HOW TO SELECT CULTURALLY AUTHENTIC MATERIALS BASED ON PROFICIENCY LEVEL

NOVICE-MID
TEXTS

Novice-Mid-level students
require short texts related to everyday personal experiences. Texts that are highly
contextualized, supported by visual cues, and contain repetition of key words and phrases are
appropriate for Novice-Mid-level learners. Interpretive tasks designed at the Novice-Mid level
ask students to recognize key words and to identify important words, phrases, and main
ideas.

NOVICE-HIGH TO
INTERMEDIATE-MID TEXTS

The same texts may be used
for Novice-High-level students through Intermediate-Midlevel students; however, the task changes.
At the Intermediate level, students continue to look for main ideas, but also identify supporting details and derive meaning from
context.

INTERMEDIATE-HIGH
TEXTS

Text used at the previous
levels may also be used with Intermediate-High-level students; however, the task changes. At the
Intermediate-High level, students continue to look for main ideas, identify supporting details,
and derive meaning from context, while they also begin to infer meaning, identify the authors
perspective, compare cultural perspectives, and recognize the organizing principle of a
text.

ADVANCED-LOW
TEXTS

Text used at the previous levels may also
be used with Advanced-Low level students; however, the task changes. At the Advanced-Low level,
students continue to infer meaning, identify the authors perspective, compare cultural
perspectives, and recognize the organizing principle of the text while they also begin to analyze
and evaluate text for facts and opinions.

Suggested culturally authentic texts
for interpretive reading tasks:

Novice-Mid Level

Blogs

Brochures

Calendars and
schedules

Childrens stories
and poems related to novice contexts

Directions

Highly
contextualized advertisements from a target country publication (print or
online)